Chapter 29: Food Distribution
"By the way, I've made your soapberry cream. I washed my hair and tried it, and it foamed up quite a bit."
"Hey, yeah, it can be used for washing clothes. This is actually soap, but it doesn't have a shape."
That evening, the team's loudspeaker blared again, announcing that the grain tax had been paid and it was time to distribute it. "No work tomorrow. Everyone go to the threshing ground, check your work points, and distribute the grain."
After the broadcast stopped, Xie Yun seemed to feel that the whole team became noisy.
Everyone was chattering at home, excitedly waiting to move the food back to their homes tomorrow.
The distribution of grain is considered an advance payment. Everyone just needs to take back their own grain. The real accounting will not be done until the end of the year, when the production team stops work and closes the accounts. Then a general meeting of all members will be organized to calculate how much work each person has done in a year, how many work points they have earned in total, and how much money they have converted into. The total amount of grain and vegetables they have distributed before will be deducted, and the rest will be distributed to the members.
Of course, if you owe debts, it will be publicly stated how many work points you need to use to repay the debt this year and how much money you will be able to get left.
The next day, after getting up early and having breakfast, Xie Yun and the other two went to the threshing ground to wait. The school was closed today, so the students could go home and help move the grain, to experience the joy of the harvest and the beauty of the system.
The team leader first introduced the situation of this year's autumn harvest and the payment of public grain. He introduced how many kilograms of grain were left after the payment. The rest would be kept for the collective and distributed to everyone. Each person could get 190 kilograms of corn, 10 kilograms of soybeans, 1 kilogram of sesame seeds, 5 kilograms of peanuts, and 400 kilograms of sweet potatoes.
4 jin of sweet potatoes are equivalent to 1 jin of grain. In this way, the wheat, corn and sweet potatoes together basically reach the standard of 360 jin of grain per person per year.
That's pretty good!
The members were all beaming with joy.
You have to know that right after the Great Famine in 1962, each person received less than 10 kilograms of wheat after the wheat harvest, and less than 30 kilograms of corn in the autumn. During the three years of the Great Famine, the amount was even less than that, but people still managed to survive by relying on wild vegetables and tree bark, didn't they?
There were a lot of things, so Xie Shen was left to look after them. Xie Yun and Zhang Ruifeng worked together, one pushing from the back and the other pulling from the front. It took them six trips to push the cart all the way.
After returning home, the sweet potatoes were put into the cellar, the corn was moved to Zhang Ruifeng's room, and the soybeans, sesame seeds and peanuts were also collected.
Soybeans are used to make paste, and you can eat soybeans boiled in salt water. Eat a few peanuts every now and then. Fry sesame seeds until crispy, crush them, add some salt, roll them into pancakes, or dip them in steamed buns.
People with better conditions might use these things to press oil to make up for the shortage of cooking oil, but the Xie family was reluctant to do so. They always felt that there would be losses during the oil pressing process and it would be better to eat it directly.
At noon, the whole sky above Liushu Village was filled with the aroma of fried sesame seeds and fried meat. After finally getting their food distributed, everyone wanted to relax and enjoy themselves.
Zhang Ruifeng also made pancakes and fried eggs, and ate pancakes and eggs for lunch.
Lately, we haven't sold any eggs at home, but we've still saved quite a few. This is mainly because the chickens are laying more frequently than before. Previously, our six chickens would lay three or four eggs a day, which we saved. We could save around 100 eggs a month, which we could sell for a little over two yuan, which we used to buy salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. Now they lay six eggs a day, and we eat three or four a day, which means we can still save dozens a month.
I have saved a lot in the past two months.
"I'll also go to the commune this afternoon and sell the eggs my family has been saving."
By the way, let’s see if the old man who collects medicinal herbs that my daughter knows is reliable.
Xie Yun didn't compete with her for this job. She had just gone there twice yesterday and couldn't go too often.
Moreover, she happened to be going to the mountain again in the afternoon to smuggle out some medicinal herbs.
"Go ahead, and come back early."
"Yeah. It would be great if a sales outlet could open in our brigade. Then we wouldn't have to run to the commune to buy salt or eggs. It would save time and money."
Xie Yun smiled and said, "Maybe it will be open in the future. The country always considers the people and wants to make things convenient for them."
"Some brigades have it, but we don't have it in Liushu Village. I don't know why."
———☆———
In the afternoon, Zhang Ruifeng set out with a basket on her back. Before she reached the village entrance, she met Xu Cheng's mother.
"Where are you going?" asked Xu Cheng's mother.
"My family has been saving eggs for almost two months. I took them to the supply and marketing cooperative to sell them for some salt. How about you?"
"I'm going to find Lao Xu, give him something, and talk to him about something."
"Oh. Then let's go together. We'll have company on the road. When we get there, I'll go to the commune and you to the lumber mill."
She didn't ask what they were going to do.
But Xu Cheng's mother was eager to share, and took the initiative to say, "My fifth son's marriage is settled. I'll go tell Old Xu. They'll be getting married by the end of the year."
"Is it settled? Which one?"
Now that they have said this, it would be impolite if I don’t ask again.
"The Zheng family in the east of the village, the third child."
Zhang Ruifeng: “…”
She pretended to think for a moment before saying, "It's his house. His house is well built."
"Of course it is. It's the best house in our brigade."
"Your fifth daughter married nearby. Her four older sisters all married into other brigades."
"They didn't have the right match in our brigade at that time. But the in-laws I found for them were not bad either. They were all people who lived a down-to-earth life."
Zhang Ruifeng nodded and said, "You have good taste. Everyone knows that your four daughters are all doing well, and everyone praises you when they talk about them. It's great that the fifth daughter married into our brigade, so she's close to home and can come back to see you often."
Xu Cheng's mother shook her head. "Once you're married, don't come back often. Even if they live nearby, I won't let them come back to avoid being criticized by their in-laws. Look at my eldest, second, third, and fourth daughters. When they got married, I told them not to come back on weekdays. Once for the wheat harvest and once for the Chinese New Year, that's two trips a year. During the Chinese New Year, I even let their younger brothers and sisters bring gifts to visit them. As long as we keep going back and forth, their in-laws can't say anything."
Zhang Ruifeng said, "You girls are lucky to have a mother like you. You really care about them."
Xu Cheng's mother was truly a good person. She used part of the betrothal gift from her in-laws to buy her dowry, and the rest was kept as a safe deposit for her children. She didn't exploit or oppress her daughters, and was a truly wonderful mother! Her daughters all married respectably.
Xu Cheng's mother sighed and said, "Children are a debt. If I don't think about them, who will? If I don't think about them, won't their lives be over? My old Xu doesn't care about anything except paying some money to the family. He thinks that because he has money, the children can grow up on their own? I worry about every one of them. He didn't care about the marriages I arranged for several children before. He let me make the decisions. Just tell him when it's done. Listen, is this human language?"
Zhang Ruifeng smiled and said, "They are all your own children. They are your own flesh and blood, so you can worry about them. When your daughters marry well in the future, they will be grateful to you."
"I don't expect them to be grateful. I just want to have a clear conscience."
Zhang Ruifeng agreed with this.
Xu Cheng's mother asked, "Is Binbin the same age as my fifth child?"
"She is one month older than the fifth child."
"Have you found a marriage for her?"
"No. I asked her, and Binbin said she doesn't want to get married in the next few years. She wants to stay at home with me for a few more years. The three of us are used to relying on each other, and I can't bear to leave her. If she doesn't want to get married, then she doesn't have to. It's okay to wait a few more years."
Xu Cheng's mother said, "That's right. If Binbin stays home for a few more years, you'll have less pressure. In a few years, Mumu will be able to work as a full-time laborer. Then you won't have to worry about her getting married. You worry so much about them, and they know how to think about you. It's not in vain that you raised this daughter. I think Mumu will be a good person."
Zhang Ruifeng smiled and said, "Both of our children are doing well."
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